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City Hall weddings

Would you ever get married at City Hall? There's something so exciting, laid-back and intimate about these small ceremonies. My friend got married at City Hall a couple weeks ago, and she wore a white linen T-shirt, jeans and sandals. And when Alex and I stopped by years ago to get our marriage license, we saw a bride, groom and their entire family wearing Mets jerseys!

What do you think? Would (or did) you get hitched at City Hall? Refinery 29 just photographed a bunch of couples—see the slideshow here.

I think getting married at city hall is the perfect way to get married! The people who are closest to you can share in this special moment and if you still want a big celebration, you can always have a laid-back party later!

My wedding is a little over 2 weeks away (yikes!) and I pushed really hard for a City Hall ceremony. My fiancé, however, might be the first groom in history who wanted a traditional wedding. We're breaking all sorts of traditions and keeping it really small as a compromise! xo

I got married at Manhattan City Hall in 2012 and it was the most wonderful experience. Everyone who worked at City Hall was so sweet and wished us a "wonderful life together", and it was so wonderful to see the couples from all different backgrounds celebrating their love for one another. The clerk that married (officiated? ordained?) our wedding was even featured in the NYT! A wonderful experience...I could go on and on about it!

I'm engaged and I would love to get married at City Hall... but my parents got married there and it didn't end well. My mother's response to my engagement announcement was "if you get married at City Hall, I'll disown you" - she was joking, but I know she'd be really upset. My fiance doesn't love the idea either so I guess I've been outvoted. I think it can be very romantic when done right - but I understand my fiance's (and Mom's) point of view too. So no City Hall wedding for me - but I LOVE seeing other people's!

I was definitely tempted to do the city hall wedding, but we wound up going with a pretty small wedding instead. I will say, even if we had done the city hall version, I still would have worn something special. It's an important day! I think you should wear at least as nice of an outfit as you would to a special date.

I love the idea of getting married at city hall. It's small, intimate, and you are surrounded by those who truly love you which is all that's all that matters. As someone mention, Pasadena's city hall beautiful and is the one spot I would choose. The architecture is breath taking and I always see couple taking their wedding pictures there.

Honestly? Yes. I don't have plans to get married anytime soon, but I have no interest in a big wedding. I'd find a really pretty place to get married. It's not about the wedding, it's about the marriage.

I love this and some city halls are quite pretty. I actually got married at a registry office in Edinburgh, Scotland. We put our wedding and honeymoon all into one trip. My sister and her family were living in the UK so they were our witnesses. For everyone back home we streamed the wedding online for them to watch and still be a part of the day. I think our wedding is still on YouTube somewhere.

My husband and I got married at the Brixton City Hall in London 5 years ago. I wore a multicolor dress called daydream and our (very few) guests feasted on pasta salad, roquefort and brownies. At night, our Uni friends and coworkers joined us for a football table tournament in a bar! It was a very fun relaxed day... I sometimes wish we had a bigger wedding (I love the Anthropologie wedding line!), but this will be a fun story for our kids later on...

In Japan, couples can have to weddings. You have to go to the "city hall" kind of place for the legal part .. then you can have the family wedding/party.Which can go on for days involving many changes of wedding dresses for the bride.

My husband and I were married in a judge's chambers with only 3 people attending. As was our whole marriage, it was just right/perfect :)

I got married at City Hall three weeks ago and it was SUCH a blast. Our parents flew over from Australia and we had a little lunch with them and some friends at Maialino afterwards. I think the best part of the day was catching the subway from City Hall to lunch - we were struck by how nice it was to have a quite a public wedding instead of being squirreled away in a function centre. New Yorkers love romance and weddings - even the train conductor shouted 'congratulations!' as we got off the train. We were grinning like idiots all day long!

my fiance and i are going to san francisco (we live in brooklyn) to get married in city hall in october! we're taking only two witnesses - his best friend (who introduced us!) and my sister. i'm wearing a jcrew bridesmaid dress in ivory. i can't wait! i loved looking at these city hall couples and getting excited!!

I'm American and my husband is British - we eloped to Llandudno, Wales (which is a seaside town on the North Coast of Wales) almost two years ago. We got married at the city hall there and our registrar was 20 minutes late because he fell asleep in the bath! We had to circle the antiques fair there twice, while we were waiting for him, as sweet little old ladies said things like, "Is today your big day, dear? You look lovely. Congratulations." I was nervous and fluffed my vows, but afterwards, we and our two witnesses (who happened to be the photographers we hired) had lunch on the pier and the sun shone all day long - even though it was October. In Wales! We had two transatlantic wedding receptions last year to celebrate with our friends and family, but I'll never regret the way we did it. :)

Not sure if you just mean NYC City Hall, but yes, I think the focus of a wedding should be on the marriage and not on the BIG WEDDING DAY (OMG, I'M A PRINCESS!! :p) My husband and I got married at a Registration Office (UK version of City Hall) in London as our families were in Brazil and the US and couldn't attend. It was a very humble ceremony, but we enjoyed it.

I did! Only family, my children were our witnesses--surprising traditional vows. I figured we'd pretty much just sign the license. We threw a big yard party a few months later when the weather warmed up. I encouraged my daughter to do the same, offering her the wedding money instead. No go--in her mid-20s she wanted to be Princess-for-a-Day.

My husband and I had a civil service in a garden across the street from the courthouse where we lived. There was plenty of drama leading up to it (ahem, surprise pregnancy) but it was so simple and sweet, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. I tell every engaged couple I know to do the same :)

We got married at the nyc city hall in 2012, not thinking our friends wanted to see our nuptials, 40 of our closest friends/family showed up and waited with us! It's a public building so we couldn't say no, it was perfect!! And we filled up the tacky mural for what may be the best wedding photo ever!

In Germany you are pretty much required to get married at city hall, unless there's a venue that is "approved" to have official marriages there. We had an intimate family-only legal wedding on one day, then a party and reception the following day with friends on the next day.

I got married at NYC city hall. My 2-month old daughter was the "maid of honor," and my 7-year old stepson was the "best man." One close friend was there to witness. It was lovely! My stepson fed my daughter a bottle during the ceremony, and he was so excited because he was missing an hour of school! My only regret was that I didn't think ahead to buy a simple white dress, and instead wore a white button-down with black pants. But it was really very sweet. And we ate Bubby's pancakes after to celebrate!

We got married at city hall seven years ago. We didn't even invite anybody. We hung out together in the morning, popped over to the city hall after lunch to get married (short lines where I live), walked in the park, had cocktails at a bar on the lake, and then dinner at our favorite restaurant. We flew to Montreal the next morning. It was a lovely day with my best friend.

I think city hall weddings are sooooo sweet. My husband and I were planning a smallish wedding in my parents backyard, but when his father's health took a very quick turn for the worse we got married the next weekend in our best friend's living room, so he could be there. There were only about twenty guests, and it was perfect. Everyone pitched in with food and flowers and the cake, we were even married by a family friend who was a judge. It really brought us all together.

My husband and I were secretly married at City Hall almost a year before our actual wedding (for green card purposes). It was terribly romantic. We went out of town, got married and had an amazing dinner out afterwards and stayed in a B&B. We also hired a photographer--I love the idea of our children stumbling upon the album one day after we're gone and thinking "What the heck?"

We got married almost two years ago, also in City Hall. There were only us, our son and friends as a best man and a maid of honour. It was very intimate and cozy, just as we wanted it to be. We were both wearing suits, he had black and I had ivory one. Thank you for this post, you remind me that there is a romance in this whole family-kids-home life. I thiknk I'll write about as well, inspired by you!

I married my sweetheart at City Hall 3 years ago in December! We had only decided the night before, so I just wore jeans&a tshirt. We had to drive about an hour so once we realized that...we got there with 20 minutes to spare before they closed. It was such a fun day..and 3 weeks of having such a secret. Once we told everyone, they were so happy for us and we ended up having a party a year later for our loved ones to celebrate with us. Thanks for this post! So beautiful!

I like the photos, but I would not trade in my traditional wedding for City hall. For us, it was important to have our community of family and friends present to witness and support our commitment.I also like the idea of God as part of the marriage, and she was there in church with us.

Sofia Coppola got married right before us at NYC City Hall, and she asked my soon to be husband to take her and her husband's wedding photos. That was pretty thrilling. (I took a photo of him taking a photo of them, haha) :)

We did it! And I wouldn't change a thing. Just our immediate families, a new suit for him and glam new dress for me. Our families live in US and UK so a traditional wedding would have been terribly tricky to organize. Thankfully neither of us ever really wanted one anyway.

We got married at NY city hall! We took a Friday off of work and road the R train from Brooklyn into Manhattan. Met 3 of our closest friends there to be our witnesses and asked another friend of ours who was in the process of switching careers from modern dancer to portrait photographer to take photos for us. It was one of the best experiences ever. People in everything from full on tuxedos and ballgowns to sweatpants and flip flops. When we came out of the chapel we were so pumped that we ran up and down the concourse high-fiving all the waiting couples. My favorite part is that you literally pick a number - like you're at a deli counter! We still have ours on our fridge. I tell friends and family who are visiting NYC that if they run out of things to do, they should go down to City Hall to see the brides and grooms coming and going - best people watching ever. We went to Bubby's in tribeca afterwards for a late brunch and the waiter was so excited for us that he brought us several glasses of champagne and their amazing apple pie for dessert on the house.

My husband is in the Marine Corps and we got married in a courthouse October 2013. We had fallen in love long distance (met previously back in high school). I was living in Vermont and he was stationed in North Carolina. After a few months, I decided I wanted to move down to be with him so we eloped in October and I moved down in December :) It was absolutely perfect and we wouldn't have changed a thing.

I love City Hall weddings! But like Erin above, my husband wanted something more traditional. We compromised by having a private ceremony with about 50 guests at a historic courthouse just outside of Austin. It had the City Hall feel I wanted but was a little bit of an upgrade for him.

My husband and I were married in the courthouse in Wilmington, DE. We dressed up and had 2 friends as witnesses, but we only shared our legal ceremony with a few friends and family. We then had a beautiful wedding a few months later. It allowed us to have a special ceremony for us (it felt like an elopement) and we were able to separate the legal aspects of being married from the true meaning of our commitment to one another. It was wonderful and we like to joke with each other about how we got married twice!

My husband and I were married at a small town City Hall almost 5 years ago. We originally planned to married in Valdosta's (GA) oldest home (JT Roberts) surrounded by friends and family. Alas, the newly restored home caught on fire and burned down right before our eyes a few months before the wedding. We lived across the way from it and witnessed the whole thing. Talk about sad! But when it was basically ashes on the ground I turned to my husband and said 'we're still here and I still love you and we should just go ahead and get married' and he agreed. So we went to the courthouse right then and got hitched. Then we went to a local Creole restaurant and had a long, boozy lunch to celebrate. We had a big but simple shindig at our home a few weeks later and encouraged everyone to donate to the restoring of the historic home. It's now rebuilt and beautiful, and will one day be the site of someone's wedding...but not ours. And that's more than ok. :)

My wife and I did! But it was sort of forced. The same-sex marriage ban in our state was lifted for a brief period, so we rushed to city hall and did it! It sounds so unromantic, but every couple there was in it together, so to speak. The sense of community was crazy. We heard so many amazing stories. On top of that, every courthouse worker we encountered was so kind and excited for us. We had the big, typical wedding ceremony this past Saturday :)

I actually wanted a city hall wedding, but didn't get it. I've never been the kind of girl that fantasized about getting married or the details. I just wanted myself, my groom and our immediate family there.

However, my husband wanted a destination wedding on a beach (tacky IMO). So in the end we compromised and did a traditional wedding. It was a great day, but a part of me still wishes we could have just gone to city hall and gotten married without all of the fuss.

Oh, I wish so dearly that we could have done this. Between the families (mine picky and his large), I desperately wanted to just toss the expensive headache of planning and get hitched at city hall. I think it was the rebellion that attracted me the most to the idea. The idea of saying "Screw this! We love each other and don't need to prove it with a huge, conventional party that we don't even care for."

Of course being only 19 and 20 during the short 6 months that we were planning, I hadn't yet developed my balls :)

I think its really sweet. If I did it over again I would definitely do city hall. I really don't remember much about our wedding other than the sweet moments between my husband and I, so I really think we could have done without the months or preparations and stress. It would be nice to then go straight to your honeymoon and hire a photographer there to take really beautiful photos in a neat destination.

Also, this reminds me of the episode in 30 Rock where Liz gets married at city hall, haha.

My husband & I got married two years ago in Chelsea Old Town Hall in London, England surrounded by 12 guests :)(it was the day after I graduated from medical school!)I wore a dress from Reiss-if it's good enough for the Duchess of Cambridge it's good enough for me!http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/communityandlocallife/registrarsservices/organisingcivilceremonies/therossettiroom.aspx

I got married at city hall! I never wanted to deal with the kerfuffle of a big wedding, so we married under an arch outside at city hall with my parents and a few close friends there with us. It was lovely and simple and just what I wanted. And afterwards we went out for a pancake brunch. :)

I abandoned my in planning-process "big" wedding to be married at City Hall in Las Vegas. While the decision was born out of great strife, it would come to be one of the grandest decisions in my lifetime.

My husband and I got hitched at NYC city hall last month ( actually, it's the city clerk's office.) I wore a dolce vita summery white dress and we went to a fancy dinner at the Hudson's, followed by checkers and live jazz at a bar in the Village. It was really a lovely night :)

I got married at City Hall in NYC in 2009, right after the remodel. It was so much fun! Everyone there was so great and it was fun to be with all the other couples who were getting married. We wandered around the city for the rest of the afternoon and everyone kept coming up to us and giving us the sweetest congratulations. It was the nicest I have ever seen NY'ers. Ever.

My husband and I got married at Oslo city hall last fall. We took the t-bane (subway) there! I wore a favourite Noa Noa dress that I have had for several years, and is not bridal like at all. Our baby girl was dressed in white though, so, from the pictures, it looks like it was her baptism (which we never did)

I JUST got married at Jersey City's City Hall. Turns out you don't have to wait in line like in Manhattan, and they actually REQUIRE that you make an appointment! SO much less of a hassle than Manhattan. Our families from Ohio were able to make it, and we ate brunch at a local coffee shop afterwards. Do you remember the weather in the NYC area 2 Fridays ago? GORGEOUS. Sunny and 75. I couldn't have been more perfect (well, my husband DID rip his pants doing a heel kick in excitement, but I think that added to the excitement :P)

Aww, I want you to see OUR City Hall photos from San Francisco. My husband and I got married there in February. Was absolutely gorgeous and wonderful to be around other couples celebrating too. When we first started wedding planning, the idea of a large ceremony freaked us both out, so we opted for a tiny City Hall ceremony with family only, and a dual-coast receptions for family and friends.

I highly recommend this option if you're considering it. It's just as special, sweet, thoughtful, and romantic - just costs a lot less.

I don't know if I'd ever get married at City Hall, but I agree about the excitement and intimacy of it.

I have a friend who wished before, during, and after her wedding ceremony that her and her husband had eloped while the vacationed in San Francisco. They enjoyed their wedding, but wished they could have avoided the stress and obligation of it all! I suppose that's something to think about.

We got married in a small restaurant in Soho NYC. My father-in-law got ordained so he could marry us and we had 25 guests. It was intimate... perfect! Everyone who attended has said it was their ideal wedding...

We were in Hawaii for a friends wedding, 3 months into being together (not engaged), and decided to get married! We tied the knot in a run down motel from the 60s turned civil ceremony "office". I wore a blue tube top and linen pants, he wore khaki shorts and a polo and it was PERFECT. so that we didn't miss having our families there we had a more formal reception 4 months later. We have been married 5 years and I can honestly say they have been the happiest 5 years of my life.

I DID get married at City Hall! My husband proposed on a Tuesday and we were married on Thursday at City Hall. No regrets. We didn't want to be engaged. We didn't want to plan. We wanted to be married and start our live so we jumped right into it. He wore khakis and a dress shirt. I wore a blue dress with a bow around my waist. It was perfect.

I would love to - they're so romantic. I looked into the laws in our province (British Columbia) and was shocked that you can't get married at a courthouse here--- there's no one to do it! It's so funny growing up with so much US culture in movies etc. that you assume things to be universal. The alternative here is to book a commissioner and go to a historic house, garden, beach or somewhere pretty and elope.

My fiancé is British and I'm American- the idea of choosing one location for a wedding creates far too many problems. He's also been married before. I've never wanted a big wedding (the expense alone is enough to terrify me, not to mention the whole 'center of attention' thing), so next month we're getting married at the City Clerk's office in Manhattan!!

As someone who doesn't feel comfortable showing too much emotion in public, city hall seemed like the most 'me' kind of wedding. and my fiancé is the same way.

i'd love to have a big party, one in New York and one in London, to celebrate with our families and friends. until then, our simple ceremony and 'stay cation' in manhattan (using Hotel Tonight- thanks Joanna for the tip!!) is exactly what I always wanted.

I was working heavily in floral design at the time and didn't want to have a big wedding as I was always at them! We had a private ceremony at city hall with two witnesses and a photographer, then had a intimate dinner reception (with only 22 guests). It was perfect for us. I never dreamed of a "white wedding" or wedding dresses or any of that anyway!

We got married in Cardiff City Hall, Wales on a Monday in July 2012. Just a handful of friends present. It was the most intimate, simple and beautiful ceremony.. Even the witnesses commented afterwards that the room had a buzzing, sacred feeling that they could feel on their skin! Nothing short of magic. And to end the day with spontaneous karaoke.. Well. 'Nuff said. For us, it was the best choice, and we loved every single bit of it.

I got married at City Hall (well...gemeentehuis here) just over 9 years ago. It was way more romantic than we ever expected! Near the end of college we realized that we had to kind of quickly decide where our relationship was going because I was an American in the Netherlands and my student visa would run out. So, we decided to get married on Free Monday. Haha! No family was there, which is really the only thing we missed. But four very close friends were our witnesses. We rode our bikes away from Town Hall with a hand made "just married" sign and celebrated with cheap champagne and fruit salad in the park. So, so romantic!!

It's a "secret" but my hubby and I got married at NY City Hall in May 2009 prior to our wedding the following month in Puerto Rico. It was just easier that way. A couple friends joined us and we went to a diner after. A fun memory!

love, love, love these pictures! we did not get married at city hall, but we only had 7 people present at our actual ceremony. we went to maui and got married there, then had a reception (still small and very casual) when we got back. i would do the same thing over & over again - the private ceremony felt sooo intimate and wonderful!

We got married at City Hall (on a Monday afternoon, just us and two friends for witnesses - we had to provide our own, otherwise it would've been just us two). It was definitely more emotional than I thought it'd be, and I loved the intimacy of it. There's no distraction, just us two, and it was so special. We went to the Fairmont after for afternoon tea and champagne, and it was perfect. I'd recommend a City Hall wedding to anyone.

We got married at city hall! Nobody knew but us that we were eloping. I bought a little blue shift dress from Nordstrom and had it sent secretly to his apartment about three days before. The day of, we picked up his best friend and best friend's wife, who we'd informed about an hour earlier, and they were our witness/photographer. Then we went to a terrible Japanese restaurant.

I wanted to elope so badly - and everyone (including siblings and parents) said so too: "Elope! Don't do the big wedding thing. Just be married!"Well, as soon as we broke the news to our parents, they felt like they were being left out. So we compromised for a smaller wedding at a gorgeous, old Villa overlooking Lake Michigan. It was amazing, but deep down, I still wish we had eloped and sent out a cool announcement in the mail followed by a party!

We eloped at City Hall in Brooklyn and it was PERFECT! A Tuesday morning at 9am, with my unsuspecting brother as the witness. (We'd only told him that we needed his help on an "errand".) It was short and sweet. I'd been a teeny bit worried that folks might be mad that we'd short changed them out of a party or being witness to the big event, but the people who really care about us went out of their way after the fact to share their congratulations with us and it was all just so dang sweet.

We had the best of both worlds, as our religious didn't was in France, where you have to have a civil marriage first. Ours was six weeks before, and it helped me get rid of all the crazy and stress before the "real" wedding

I love this! Friends of mine are travelling from Edinburgh, Scotland to be married at City Hall next week and we're flying out from London to be there with them. So exciting! Would anyone have any recommendations for good patisseries in NYC? I'd like to order a wedding cake for them. Thanks! x

I think getting married at city hall is a great idea! That's what I wanted, to just get married, but my husband wanted the big white wedding! I still have fantasies of wearing my gold dress to the government building and then going out to dinner with our parents and siblings (and their SO's). But I loved our wedding day as well, so I guess there's no wrong way to do it as long as you loved your day!

We got married at City Hall with our immediate families in tow. And we had a celebration brunch at Balthazar afterwards. It was truly a fun experience to see everyone happy and excited on their big day.

Our moms really wanted to have a reception so we planned a large dinner at a restaurant in Tribeca 2 months later. We don't regret a thing.

We got legally married in NY city hall... for a variety of reasons we found it easier to get legally married on Friday, and then have our wedding ceremony/reception the next day. Actually, at the time I hated it and just went through the motions, feeling like the wedding the next day would "count." But now I wish I had embraced it a bit more... it was certainly a crazy atmosphere at City Hall.

My dream wedding is to get married at San Francisco's City Hall on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, have a romantic dinner and stay over in a swanky hotel and then leave the next day for our honeymoon. I would love to stop on the way to the airport at a post office and mail our wedding announcements to friends and family and have it be a big surprise to everyone that we did it (!!!). I think there is something so romantic just making it be the two of you.... and maybe a really great photographer to take a few heirloom photographs.